The Early Years Of The Republic Of Jinde Activities

In the early years of the Republic of China, the intellectuals in China realized the urgency of improving the moral consciousness of compatriots gradually along with the successive development of early modernization in various respects. As a result, represented by Wu zhihui, the members of Tung Meng Hui originated Moral Improvement Association, which took "no patronizing prostitutes, no marring concubines and no gambling " as its basic principle. In accordance with the standards of Moral Improvement Association, the members in which were divided into four levels:common membership, A membership, B membership and C membership. In addition, there also was Female Moral Improvement Association. Different from the male, Female Moral Improvement Association showed some characteristics of gender, such as the following regulations, "no raising child bride, no heavy makeup". The same regulations of Male Moral Improvement Association and Female Moral Improvement Association lied in "no being officers, no being senators", which indirectly reflected the attitudes of the group of intellectuals to women's participation in politics during that period of time. The originating of Moral Improvement Association drew wide attentions among all circles in the society at that time. However, confined by the imperfection of the political system in the early years of Republic of China, it deflected from its original course in practice and was imposed on a tendency of pan-politicalization. On the other hand, its aiming at improving the moral consciousness of compatriots profoundly affected the group of new intellectuals with Cai yuanpei as their representative.As one of the first batch of members joined into the Moral Improvement Association. Cai yuanpei still carried out moral improvement activities during his study in Europe, no efforts spared. In 1917, Cai yuanpei was appointed president of Peking University by the government of Republic of China. After witnessing the condition of "ignoring personal morality" in the campus of Peking University, he decided to transplant the concept of Moral Improvement Association in Shanghai into Peking University. Moral Improvement Association in Beijing duly emerged. Different from the Moral Improvement Association in Shanghai, Moral Improvement Association in Peking University set organizations of senators and provost officers, and they would supervise its members and apply sanctions to those who broke the regulations. After more than a year's activities of moral improvement, the ethos, especially for the students'spirit in Peking University improved a lot. In early May 4th movement, as the backbone of the Moral Improvement Association, Luo jialun, Fu sinian and some other members played a critical role. It should be particularly noticed that, the original place of Moral Improvement Association, Beijing and Shanghai, both of them were cities of higher levels in economy and polity. In a certain extent, it was the significant increase in economic strength that led people ask for higher development in moral aspect.